The London Underground Electric Train (Crowood)

There are many books on the development of the tube trains of London Underground, quite a few of them really good too and this is another one to add to that list.

This excellent book approaches the subject from a novel direction: instead of a standard history of the LU network and its rolling stock this book instead describes the development of the many technologies that went into the LU train as we know now and how they all fit together. So starting with the earliest electric traction in the first tubes we see how electric motors and control systems, bogies, bodywork, brakes et cetera developed over the decades.

The book is well illustrated throughout, with a number of diagrams that explain how the various systems work. The London Underground was the first deep-level underground system in the world but it owes so much to early developments in the US as well as decades of evolution and different paths (not all of which worked). Much development work is ongoing and the book is very up-to-date with the latest details of the New Tube for London which will finally replace my beloved 1972 Stock in the next decade (perhaps).

Bogies at the LT Museum Depot

Sopwith F.1/2F.1 Camel (Haynes Manual)

Once Haynes just did car manuals but sensibly have opened their horizons much further these days as less people are willing/able to maintain their own ever more advanced automobiles. Here is a Haynes manual therefore for the Sopwith Camel, the first truly famous British aeroplane. It could, of course, be of use for owners of the WW1 icon but the vast majority of readers will never own the plane, so is the book worth having?

Haynes manuals are very good value for the money, very readable and very well presented. These manuals for historic vehicles usually include a potted history of the type in question and then go on to technical details as to how it was built and how it can be maintained. The Camel book is no exception. The history of the Camel also includes a brief history of the origins of the RAF. Its a good read but maybe should have been gone in to a little more depth.

The technical portion of the manual does goes into depth on how the Camel was built. I find with these manuals there tend to be sections of interest and others which i skip over. The section on starting the engine for example is very good.

So yet again a good Haynes manual, and if ever i manage to get myself a Sopwith Camel (which isn't in 1:72 scale) i'll know how keep it all together!

N6812 at the Imperial War Museum

London rails and boats

As well as the visit to Aldwych tube station, last weekend i was also able to visit a number of London's many stations and take a lot of photographs. I visited Victoria, Clapham Junction, Peckham Rye and London Bridge and you can see my photos here. If thats not enough i also took a few photos along the Thames Embankment and these can be seen here!

Aldwych

Something i have been waiting for for a number of months now has been a tour of the disused tube station at Aldwych on the Strand. Whenever you have to wait a long time for something you always worry if it will be worth the wait, well no need to worry as it greatly exceeded even my high expectations!

Aldwych closed in 1994 due to low passenger volumes and the need to replace the lifts. The station was kept as it was for a number of reasons including filming tube scenes in films and TV shows but also for emergency services training. The station is a fascinating period piece in many ways though quite a lot of the features are not exactly authentic, some old posters for example may look like they have been left since the closing but are actually later additions for a filming. Aldwych is on a branch of the Piccadilly Line from  Holborn and the branch line is still operational and includes a 1972 Stock tube train.

The tour was very interesting and included both platforms (one was closed in 1917 and includes the oldest remaining track on the underground). But of course as the lifts no longer worked it was a 160 step walk down to the platforms, which is fine... going back up was a different story! You can see my photos here.

Banbury cakes

Being a fan of Eccles and Chorley cakes i thought it was high time i sampled the similar Banbury cake, especially with my roots in Oxfordshire (back 4 centuries blah blah). So i went to Banbury yesterday to get some! I didn't just go there for cakes of course. I also had a nice walk along the frozen towpath of the Oxford Canal and took some photographs in the station too. You can see my canal photographs here.

The cakes are very good by the way and can be ordered from Brown's own website. I think i'll just get some whenever i am in town, which is fairly often.

Stafford rails

The first railway photoshoot of 2016 was a return to Stafford which i visited in May 2015 but haven't been back since.

After a slow start things certainly hotted up with some interesting trains including a Class 37 hauled ECS and a couple of Class 66s on a light engine trip plus a few freight trains and the usual passenger services. My photos can be seen here. I also continued my experiments with railway video, my latest can be seen below.